Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Motor City

I'm in Detroit this week for training. This is my 2nd time to Michigan. I came once about 7 years ago for my 25th birthday...my best friend from college was living here and working for GM. Not very many people spend time in the actual city of Detroit -- it's kind of scary, but the towns around it are pretty nice.

Did you know that you can drive south from Detroit and be in CANADA?? Yup, it's true! I did that when I was here 7 years ago.

Our training is in Plymouth, MI, about 20 minutes northwest of the Detroit airport. We have class during the day, and then we can do whatever we want at night. Last night a few of us went into downtown Detroit to eat at Hard Rock Cafe. The food was ok, but the important thing was that I was able to pick up my souvenir Detroit shot glass.

Tonight we went over to Ann Arbor to see the University of Michigan. We drove past the stadium first, and then we looked for a parking place so we could walk around campus a little bit. After easing the giant rental car into a parallel parking spot (perfectly, I might add), we got out and started feeding the meter. A nice college coed told us that we didn't have to pay after 6pm, so we told her thank you, and then I opened my BIG mouth. I said, oh well, at least we donated to "Michigan State"! Oops! I can never keep these 'U of' and 'State' schools straight. I don't live here. I do the same thing with the Kansas schools. I caught myself right away, and luckily she was walking away by then.

We found a store that was sporting anything and everything with Univ of Michigan on it...and all for under $20! Can you believe it?? They had shirts and sweatshirts and pants and hats and stuffed animals and glasses and golf balls and DOG SLICKERS and bottle openers...I could keep going on, but I'll spare you. I splurged and got a small gift for my hubby and a sweatshirt for myself. Now, I LOVE my alma mater, but you can't buy anything besides a bumper sticker for less than $20. What's up with that?

Tomorrow we're planning on heading to Toledo, Ohio, for dinner. It's about an hour south of us. I know that that probably doesn't sound very exciting, but I have a goal to visit all 50 states in our nation, and I haven't been to Ohio yet. I've been to 39 states so far, so this will be number 40. 10 more to go!